Smart, Beautiful Recipe Journals from Rag & Bone Bindery

We're always looking for better recipe storage systems, and this one from Rag & Bone Bindery has a lot to recommend it. These recipe binders come in plenty of beautiful colors, but my attraction to them lies in their treatment of recipes. In this format, recipes aren't just formulae to be preserved, but experiences to be documented. Read on to see what I mean!

Each recipe page has a reverse side with space for notes on when you made the recipe, the occasion, any recipe adjustments, and even a photo. I love how this format encourages you to not only make a recipe but mark the context as well.

This may not be a practical exercise for every recipe in your repertoire, but a journal like this could be a great tool for documenting certain types of cooking you do: Perhaps every birthday cake you make for your family, or every holiday meal, or recipes for a certain season.

The journal also includes space for standard shopping lists, inspirational chefs, farmers' market notes, and even a spot to sketch up your dream kitchen! There are also sleeves for recipe printouts.

This might not be the end-all, be-all binder for every one of your recipes, but the format makes it a really lovely gift idea, or a tool to document some of your own cooking.

Faith is executive editor of The Kitchn and author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning The Kitchn Cookbook, coauthored with Sara Kate Gillingham, as well as Bakeless Sweets. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with her husband Mike.